


Parenting Skills

by bluestargirl6 (pressdbtwnpages)



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-05-17
Updated: 2005-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-04 14:38:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pressdbtwnpages/pseuds/bluestargirl6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>It isn't until he is back in his car that Keith realizes... [that] Veronica's changed in the last few years.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Parenting Skills

**Author's Note:**

> Set 1x22.

Keith chases the Echolls kid away from his daughter on the beach the way he used to protect her from seagulls.

When she was little she used to sit so quietly, so still, that the birds would come up and try to peck at her. Keith shooed them away diligently until the day one of the birds got Veronica and she shrieked so hard every bird on the entire beach flew away. That was the day Keith realized how strong his little girl was. She was four and Keith decided to let Veronica handle the seagull problem on her own.

It isn't until he is back in his car that Keith realizes that Veronica, his sweet, innocent, little girl turned her boyfriend in to the police without blinking or a backwards glance.

What has he done to her?

Veronica's changed in the last few years, but that's normal. Keith's changed too. It's been rough, Lilly's death, loosing his job, Lianne leaving, a lot for anyone to handle. He thought he and Veronica were both handling things fine, maybe not the pictures of perfect mental health but pretty damn well.

But. But Keith thinks he might go through a lot of soul-searching before he turned Alicia in, even if he knew she was guilty.

The fact that Veronica didn't say anything to him about her relationship with Logan, didn't flinch when Keith told her they had to go to the police, that concerns him more than he can say.

He loved his sweet, pink wearing, long-haired, giggly teenage daughter and maybe loves this tougher feistier girl even more. She is him 30 years younger and a hell of a lot prettier. They are a team, now, always. Their father-daughter bond was strong the moment Veronica was born.

She's not an average teenager. Keith loves that about her, encourages it because it is so nice to have a partner. But maybe Alicia is right after all. Keith treats his kid like she's 40 and he's never seen the harm in it. Better cynical than naïve, right? Better the aggressor than the victim.

But if a 17 year old girl can throw away her boyfriend for the greater good, it isn't. Teenage girls are supposed to be self-absorbed and worried about makeup and clothes, not solving murder mysteries. They are supposed to scream and cry that their fathers just don't understand and that it isn't fair, not quietly accept the fact that the boy they care about may be a killer.

It kills Keith to realize that his daughter has walled her heart up so tightly that something like this can just roll off of her. Kills him to realize that the pain Veronica has allowed him to see is only a tiny fraction of it. Keith is torn between being hurt that Veronica has been keeping things, big things, from him and being devastated that Veronica is so hurt. His baby is broken and he just thought she was getting tougher.

Keith wants to gather Veronica in his arms and hold her tight, fingers gripping her shoulders hard and telling her that he loves her and will always be here and never ever leave and that she can tell him anything without fear of punishment as long as she tells him something. He wants to do that, but Veronica had something to do said she'd be home later and didn't say where.

Keith thought he had a great relationship with his daughter, excellent communication. It's all spiraled out of control somehow, Keith doesn't know how and he has no idea how to get his baby back.


End file.
